Bartlett music teacher allegedly admitted having sex with student at his home

Friday

Jul 18, 2014 at 7:24 PMJul 18, 2014 at 7:45 PM

By Brian Lee TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WEBSTER — A music teacher at Bartlett Junior-Senior High School allegedly admitted he had sex with a 14-year-old student three times last week at his Palmer home, a police report said.

Jeffrey M. Flynn, 40, of 27 Highland St., Palmer, was ordered held on $10,000 bail Thursday in Palmer District Court, where he was arraigned on three counts of aggravated statutory rape.

The judge ordered Mr. Flynn — who was also the assistant coach on the girls softball team — to wear a GPS-monitoring bracelet upon his release, and to stay away from the girl, her family, their Webster apartment and the high school.

The judge also said Mr. Flynn's interaction with anyone under 16 must be supervised.

According to the report, the girl, while worried Mr. Flynn would get in trouble and lose his job, admitted to Webster police Wednesday that she and Mr. Flynn had sex at his house at least twice.

John Ross, Mr. Flynn's Springfield-based lawyer, said in an interview Friday that he could not confirm nor deny Mr. Flynn's alleged confession, because the lawyer said he had just received and was reviewing the discovery statement.

Mr. Ross said his client had not been released on bail as of late Friday afternoon.

No one answered the door at Mr. Flynn's home Friday afternoon.

The alleged rapes occurred while Mr. Flynn's wife, who teaches at another school district, was at an out-of-state music camp, the police report said.

One of Mr. Flynn's Bartlett colleagues was also at the camp, and is a friend of Mr. Flynn's wife, police said.

At the camp, the two were able to draw several damning conclusions about Mr. Flynn's alleged relationship with the student, the report indicated.

In addition, the report said Superintendent Barbara Malkas on Wednesday gave investigating Officer Cynthia Johnson emails from a school computer on which Mr. Flynn had asked a colleague to send the girl to his room on four days, during Mr. Flynn's preparation time.

Mr. Flynn's fellow music teacher told investigators that on or about the week of May 19, he noticed Mr. Flynn was spending a lot of time with the female student, the report said.

The witness said the girl was going to Mr. Flynn's band class and would enter during Mr. Flynn's prep time.

Around this time, Mr. Flynn covered the window to his office, the colleague told authorities.

The colleague said he had tried to warn Mr. Flynn that the girl perhaps had a crush on him, but Mr. Flynn dismissed the idea, the report said.

During the school's graduation ceremony, the colleague said he observed Mr. Flynn and the girl text-messaging each other, and after the ceremony, Mr. Flynn brought the girl to his office, the report said.

During the week of July 6, while the colleague and Mr. Flynn's wife were at camp, the colleague said Mr. Flynn's wife had told him she thought Mr. Flynn was having an affair with a parent, the report said.

Mr. Flynn's wife provided the identity of the parent's daughter.

But the Bartlett teacher said he recognized the name as the sister of the girl with whom Mr. Flynn was spending too much time, the report said.

Mr. Flynn's wife also shared what she thought was the parent's phone number, and they scrolled through what appeared to be thousands of text messages, the report said.

On July 7, the Bartlett teacher found out that the phone number belonged to the alleged victim, the report said.

He allegedly told police he drove to Webster and picked up the girl at her house about 10 a.m. each day. He said he brought her to his house in Palmer, and returned her home around 6 p.m. each day, the report stated.

Mr. Flynn also told police they had kissed for the first time on or about May 20, while in the dressing area of the band/music wing at school, the report said.

In an interview with Palmer investigators, who had driven to the Webster Police Department to take custody of Mr. Flynn Wednesday, the educator at first denied the allegations by Webster police.

The Palmer report said Mr. Flynn had said the girl was never at his house, but he had recently taken her to batting cages on Route 20 in Palmer.

But Palmer police said the only batting cages on Route 20 in Palmer had been closed for more than a year.

Mr. Flynn allegedly admitted to Palmer investigators he had lied, and had in fact had sex with the Webster student.

The Webster school superintendent, in an interview Thursday, said: "This is an ongoing investigation, and we're fully cooperating with the Police Department, and because of that we are not able to provide any comment at this time."

Because it is summer session, the teacher is not working or receiving compensation at this time, Ms. Malkas said when asked whether Mr. Flynn had been placed on paid or unpaid administrative leave of absence.

In a statement posted to the community on the school district website, Ms. Malkas wrote: "There is a sacred trust between parents and schools which commits districts to not only provide an education to children, but an oath to provide for their safety."

Contact Brian Lee at brian.lee@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BleeTG